Netflix Co-CEOs Reed Hastings and Ted Sarandos each saw a slight dip in their total compensation in 2021 compared to 2020, according to a new SEC filing. The company’s preliminary proxy statement said Hastings made a total of $40.8 million last year, compared with $43.2 million in 2020. Sarandos collected $38.2 million, down from $39.3 […]
After playing the gravitas of slick, moral-shifting attorney Saul Goodman on AMC’s 39-time Emmy nominee Better Call Saul, Bob Odenkirk, is — to use a line from one of his Mr. Show sketches — ready “to blow up the moon” as he pivots back to his comedy roots. “We are going to blow up the moon, […]
Kathryn Hays, who in 1972 started playing the trouble-making homewrecker Kim Sullivan in As the World Turns and by the soap’s cancelation in 2010 had aged with her character to become the beloved matriarch Kim Hughes, died March 25 in Fairfield, CT. She was 87. Her death was announced today in the Connecticut Post. Hollywood […]
EXCLUSIVE: Chernin Entertainment has hired former Red Arrow Studios chairman and CEO Jan Frouman. Frouman is joining the company, which is behind films such as the Planet of the Apes franchise and Ford v. Ferrari and Apple series See, in an unspecified role. Chernin Entertainment reps declined to comment. He was most recently President of […]
EXCLUSIVE: Deon Cole (Black-ish) has been cast in the lead role of BET+’s upcoming dark comedy Average Joe. The series, which received a cast contingent script-to-series order in February, hails from Robb Cullen and McG. Set in The Hill district of Pittsburgh and inspired by Cullen’s life, Average Joe follows blue-collar plumber, Joe Washington (Cole) who […]
Charlize Theron is getting into the superhero producing business. The Mad Max: Fury Road and Tully star is executive producing You Brought Me The Ocean, based on characters from DC and the young adult graphic novel by Alex Sanchez and Jul Maroh. The dramedy series is in development at HBO Max, sources tell Deadline. Theron […]
(UPDATED with Will Smith statement) With their options rather limited, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Board of Governors has just decided that Will Smith will not be able to attend the Oscars for 10 years for slapping Chris Rock on-stage at the 94th Academy Awards on March 27. “The Board has decided, […]
Members of the Directors Guild of Canada British Columbia have voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike against film and TV productions in the province. The vote on the union’s first-ever strike mandate was 92.2% in favor, with 86.2% of eligible voters casting ballots. “We thank our members for the solidarity they have shown with this […]
EXCLUSIVE: Filmmaker Walter Hill was honored with a Tribute Ceremony in France on Tuesday evening, which marked the opening night of the International Thriller Film Festival – Reims Polar. A retrospective of Hill’s films are being shown at the festival, which runs through April 10, including The Warriors, 48 Hrs., starring Eddie Murphy and Nick […]
AT&T CEO John Stankey, who decided last spring to spin off WarnerMedia into a $43 billion merged entity with Discovery, has sent a bouquet to WarnerMedia staff as the deal gets set to close. In a memo to staff (read it in full below), Stankey praised the “remarkable body of work” accrued by WarnerMedia in […]
EXCLUSIVE: Lili Simmons (Power Book IV: Force), Kim Coates (The White Houe Plumbers), Igby Rigney (Midnight Mass), Tom Bower (El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie) and Justin Marcel McManus (Power Book II: Ghost) will topline Southern Gothic (working title), an upcoming indie drama from writer-director Tom Schulman (Dead Poets Society), which has wrapped production. The story […]
EXCLUSIVE: UTA has signed actor, producer, and podcast host Tika Sumpter (Sonic the Hedgehog, Mixed-ish) in all areas. In film, Sumpter will next be seen in Paramount Pictures’ Sonic the Hedgehog 2 reprising the role of Maddie Wachowski alongside James Marsden and Jim Carrey later this year. Previously, she starred opposite Robert Redford, Casey Affleck, […]
The face of five-year-old Aline looks weirdly mature and toothy as she crawls from under a table at a family wedding to belt out a song early in the film of the same name. French comedian and actress Valérie Lemercier, 58, wrote, directed and stars in Aline and it’s her head on a body altered […]
EXCLUSIVE: Lupin and Intouchables star Omar Sy will now co-star opposite Emmy winner Kerry Washington (Scandal, Django) in Lionsgate action-thriller Shadow Force, we can reveal. Bad Boys For Life scribe and The Grey director Joe Carnahan is newly aboard to direct the feature, which will follow an estranged couple with a bounty on their heads who must go on the run with their son […]
Some good news from Broadway: Take Me Out, the well-received revival of Richard Greenberg’s baseball play, has extended its run by two weeks at Second Stage’s Hayes Theater. The comedy-drama, starring Patrick J. Adams, Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Jesse Williams, will now run through Saturday, June 11. The extension, announced today by producer Second Stage […]
EXCLUSIVE: REinvent International Sales has inked a North American deal on The Dark Heart, the Swedish true-crime series from The Guilty director Gustav Moller, with streaming service Topic taking U.S. rights and public broadcaster CBC Gem grabbing Canada. The show, co-created with Oskar Söderlund (Easy Money), premiered at Sundance this year and recently screened at […]
Amazon Studios has renewed Gloria Calderón-Kellett‘s romantic comedy series With Love for a second season. Season 1 followed the lives of the Diaz siblings, Lily (Emeraude Toubia) and Jorge Jr. (Mark Indelicato), across various holidays throughout the year as they search for love. Cancellations/Renewals Scorecard: TV Shows Ended Or Continuing In 2021-22 Season Along the way, […]
Veteran sportscaster Joe Davis has been tapped to become the lead play-by-play announcer for Fox Sports’ Major League Baseball coverage. Davis will team with Hall of Famer and John Smoltz in the network’s lead booth. He succeeds longtime Fox broadcaster Joe Buck, who left the network last month along with Troy Aikmen, to join ESPN’s […]
Updated: Paramount’s Sonic The Hedgehog 2 grossed $6.25M in previews from Wednesday fan screenings and Thursday showtimes that started at 3 PM. The film is expected to make north of $50M this weekend. Universal/Endeavor Content’s Ambulance is not looking great at $700K last night from 2,800 theaters that started at 7PM. Sonic the Hedgehog 2‘s Thursday was […]
Happy Friday readers. Tom Grater here looking back on the week’s top international headlines. Mip TV Comes To An End We got there eventually: The first Cannes-based Mip TV for three years took place earlier this week and, after some initial travel chaos that had the entire UK contingent scrabbling to reach Nice airport by […]
The British Film Institute (BFI) has added five experienced executives to its Board of Governors. Joining BFI chair Tim Richards, the CEO of cinema chain Vue, are: Monica Chadha, Board advisor and consultant; Elizabeth Karlsen (Carol), producer and co-founder of Number 9 Films; Laura Miele, Executive Vice-President and COO of Electronic Arts; Scott Stuber, Head […]
RRR, the latest epic from Baahubali filmmaker S.S. Rajamouli, has grossed over 960 crore ($126M) at the global box office in its first two weeks, and continues to grow. It is already the fourth biggest Indian movie ever worldwide and also gives Rajamouli bragging rights to three titles on the Top 10 chart of Indian […]
The First Lady of the United States, Dr. Jill Biden, will make a special appearance during the Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards this Saturday. She is not the first First Lady to appear on the show — in 2012, Michelle Obama presented the Big Help Award to Taylor Swift. Dr. Biden’s appearance at the Kids’ Choice […]
Netflix is in early-stage conversations with The Crown producer Left Bank over a prequel to the smash hit royal drama. The show’s penultimate season will launch later this year, introducing a slew of new characters such as Elizabeth Debicki as Princess Diana, and sources confirmed a potential prequel is in discussion. Any prequel would likely cover the […]
ITV, Comcast, Discovery and Paramount have been tipped as potential Channel 4 buyers, along with outside bets such as European giant Vivendi, as the UK government’s two-year-long process to privatize and sell the broadcaster begins. Sources indicated each potential bidder will be scrutinizing the process in minute detail to see how Channel 4’s all-important remit […]
